The Second Collaboration
Noticing that the atmosphere between Kaeya and Diluc had turned distinctly odd, Ran quickly spoke up to steer the children's attention back to the game before things could get any more awkward.
After listening to everyone else's suggestions, Mitsuhiko glanced once more at Klee's side of the investigation — still no progress there — and after a moment of agonizing, he went with the playing cards after all.
After all, based on everything he'd learned from his detective novels, any unusual object found near a victim had to mean something. Who knew — it might even be a dying message!
He pressed the option, and the game displayed its verdict:
Investigation complete. Regrettably, the playing cards were nothing more than an item the murderer happened to drop beside the victim. The material is commonplace, and no useful clues were found.
Furthermore, because you devoted too much attention to these useless details, your investigation has been severely delayed. Your supervisor is beginning to lose confidence in you.
Accidentally dropped?
The corner of Conan's mouth twitched as he read those words.
The other children stared blankly at the screen as well — none of them had expected an answer like that.
"Mitsuhiko, I think I've found a clue about who this person is!" Klee's voice shattered the frozen atmosphere on the other side of the room.
Haltingly, with Albedo's help, Klee had managed to coax out of the game that the victim had once been seen on a certain residential street. All that remained was to investigate there, and they would learn who the victim really was.
Hearing how far Klee had gotten, Mitsuhiko felt the pressure mount — he didn't have a single lead on his end yet. Thankfully, his choice finally paid off this time: he'd known to start with the body itself, and at last he obtained the victim's time of death and other vital information.
With the case finally moving forward, the children glued their eyes to the screen, terrified of missing the smallest clue — or of picking the wrong option again the way they had at the start and sabotaging the whole investigation.
Sonoko, meanwhile, had no interest in any of this. She took a languid sip of her raspberry-mint drink, and when she noticed Albedo stepping back a few paces to let Klee play with her friends, her eyes lit up slightly.
She drifted over to his side. "Mr. Albedo, are you Klee's biological brother?"
She didn't think Klee and Albedo looked much alike. A cousin, maybe, or some distant relative? She wondered idly whether everyone in their family was this good-looking.
"Hmm... no, I'm not Klee's biological brother. I was adopted by Klee's mother, Madam Alice, and I think of Klee as my own little sister." Though he had no idea why Miss Sonoko would suddenly ask such a question, Albedo answered honestly. "Madam Alice left on a long journey recently, so Klee has been entrusted to my care."
"Oh — I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"
In Albedo's eyes, he had simply been answering Miss Sonoko's question to the best of his ability. But from Sonoko's perspective, it looked entirely different — she was convinced she'd just poked at a painful spot, and her smile was barely holding itself together.
She wanted to slap her own mouth. Of all the topics to bring up — why this one?
Her sudden apology caught Albedo off guard. He glanced at her expression, and it didn't take him long to guess what she was feeling awkward about.
He considered explaining, but the explanation would be rather tedious, so he gave up on the idea and simply accepted Sonoko's apology as it stood.
Seeing that Albedo didn't mind, Sonoko breathed a quiet sigh of relief and changed the subject. Deciding he seemed good-natured enough, she leaned in a little closer and lowered her voice, curiosity getting the better of her. "By the way, I noticed the mood between Mr. Kaeya and Mr. Diluc earlier was a little strange. Are they not on good terms?"
At the mention of Kaeya's name, Conan's ears quietly pricked up.
Albedo cast a sidelong glance at Conan, who appeared to be absorbed in the game nearby, then thought for a moment before answering in a low voice. "I'm not entirely sure what their relationship is like. As far as I know, Kaeya hasn't returned to Dawn Winery for quite some time — not since the passing of Master Ragnvindr, the previous owner. Before that, the two of them were actually very close."
"Ohh~ so that's how it is," Sonoko murmured, with feeling.
Meanwhile, at the Japan branch of the Jade Chamber Corporation.
"Hello — are you the ones Mr. Kaeya sent over?"
Today was a rest day. Ningguang's Akasha Terminal project was essentially complete and about to launch on the market, so no overtime had been required lately, and the only people in the office were those already briefed on the situation at hand.
Because they knew the visitors arriving today could not be seen by outsiders, Ganyu had been waiting at the company entrance since early morning. The moment the qualifying party appeared, she stepped forward to greet them.
There were two of them — a man and a woman. The woman led while the man hung back half a step, making it plain that the woman was the principal in this collaboration.
The woman in front had long silver hair gathered into a low ponytail and blue eyes. (According to Aether's files, this young lady was supposed to have heterochromia — Ganyu surmised she had probably put in colored contacts to keep her features from standing out too much.) Her eyes were large, her features lovely, but her gaze was distinctly sharp.
The man trailing behind her likewise had silver hair, cropped short at his ears, and red eyes the color of fresh blood — eyes that carried a contemptuous sneer, as though no one around him was worth a second thought. With both hands buried in his pockets and a mocking smile playing at the corner of his mouth, he walked toward Ganyu.
Cross-referencing the dossiers, Ganyu quickly determined which of the two was Curaçao and which was Camus.
Even though she already knew who they were, Ganyu gave no sign of it, confirming their identities aloud just as propriety demanded.
Once everything checked out, she escorted the pair up to Miss Ningguang's office.
Knowing that Curaçao possessed an exceptional short-term memory, Ningguang had deliberately chosen her own office for the meeting — a location that was public and transparent, with nothing in the surrounding area that needed hiding.
After the two sides exchanged greetings, each quietly sized the other up.
Looking at Curaçao — so sharp-eyed, so impeccably composed — Ningguang genuinely could not imagine this woman being someone a mere child could melt the heart of. She had no choice but to marvel, once again, at the wonders of those Detective Boys.
Curaçao, for her part, found Ningguang's image equally startling. She caught herself wondering, in silence, how someone like this had ever crossed paths with Kaeya — let alone joined the same organization.
None of them dwelt on their musings for long; negotiations began almost at once.
Camus, for his part, simply sat off to the side saying nothing, occasionally sipping the tea Ganyu had poured, his manner languid and careless — as if his sole purpose in coming had been to accompany Curaçao, and beyond that, he answered for nothing at all.
Partway through, Camus used having drunk too much water as his excuse to ask Ganyu where the restroom was, and having declined her offer to show him the way, he left Ningguang's office.